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PORTSIDE CULTURE

MICROPLASTICS MAY BE MAKING E. COLI INFECTIONS EVEN MORE DANGEROUS,
SCIENTISTS SAY  
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Stacey Leasca
July 2, 2025
Food & Wine
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_ Studies show microplastics could have the unexpected effect of
making foodborne illnesses even more dangerous than before. _

Microplastics have officially entered your food chain — and they
might be transforming bacteria into superbugs., Steve
Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

 

Microplastics are truly everywhere. As the World Economic Forum
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these tiny plastic particles measuring
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millimeters or less have been found across land, oceans, the air, and
throughout our food chain
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They've also been detected in human blood and in the brain. We still
don't know much about how they actually impact human health. However,
a new study suggests that microplastics could have an unexpected
effect: making foodborne illnesses even more dangerous than before. 

In April, researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
published their study findings in the Journal of Nanobiotechnology,
examining how nanoplastics, which are a mere 1  micrometer wide or
smaller, react when they come into contact with foodborne pathogens,
specifically E. coli O157:H7, a particularly harmful strain that can
cause serious illness in humans.

“Other studies have evaluated the interaction of nanoplastics and
bacteria, but so far, ours is the first to look at the impacts of
microplastics and nanoplastics on human pathogenic bacteria," the
study's senior author, Pratik Banerjee, who is also an associate
professor in the department of food science and human nutrition and an
Illinois Extension Specialist, shared in a statement.

Using three types of polystyrene-based nanoplastics — one with a
positive charge, one with a negative charge, and one with no charge at
all — the team discovered that these nanoparticles can significantly
influence how bacteria grow, survive, and even how dangerous they
become. In particular, those exposed to a positive charge.

That's because the positive charge caused a "bacteriostatic" effect,
which slowed but did not stop the E. coli from growing. Instead, it
adapted, resumed growth, and formed biofilms, which make bacteria
harder to kill.

“Just as a stressed dog is more likely to bite, the stressed
bacteria became more virulent, pumping out more Shiga-like toxin, the
chemical that causes illness in humans,” Banerjee said. 

The researcher noted that these biofilms form a "very robust bacterial
structure and are hard to eradicate,” emphasizing that their goal
was to observe what occurs "when this human pathogen, which is
commonly transmitted via food, encounters these nanoplastics from the
vantage point of a biofilm.”

Although the research doesn't suggest that micro- and nanoplastics are
the only cause of foodborne illness outbreaks, they point out that
interactions like the ones they observed "lead to enhanced survival of
pathogens with increased virulence traits."

This isn't the only study highlighting the effects of microplastics on
bacteria. In March, researchers from Boston University
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their findings in the journal _Applied and Environmental
Microbiology_ [[link removed]],
which showed that bacteria exposed to microplastics could become
resistant to "multiple types of antibiotics commonly used to treat
infections." 

They also specifically studied how E. coli (this time using MG1655, a
non-pathogenic laboratory strain) reacted to microplastics, and, as
Neila Gross, a PhD candidate in materials science and engineering and
the lead author of the study, shared, “The plastics provide a
surface that the bacteria attach to and colonize." On those surfaces,
Gross and her team also found that they created that dangerous
biofilm, which "supercharged the bacterial biofilms," making it
impossible for antibiotics to penetrate. 

“We found that the biofilms on microplastics, compared to other
surfaces like glass, are much stronger and thicker, like a house with
a ton of insulation,” Gross added. “It was staggering to see.” 

Furthermore, the BU team pointed out that while microplastics are
everywhere, they are especially problematic in lower-income areas of
the world that may lack the ability to control pollution flow. 

“The fact that there are microplastics all around us, and even more
so in impoverished places where sanitation may be limited, is a
striking part of this observation,” Muhammad Zaman, a BU College of
Engineering professor of biomedical engineering who studies
antimicrobial resistance and refugee and migrant health, added.
“There is certainly a concern that this could present a higher risk
in communities that are disadvantaged, and only underscores the need
for more vigilance and a deeper insight into [microplastic and
bacterial] interactions.”

* food science
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* microplastics
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* bacteria
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* health
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